The secret behind the Branch Seal
by Chiruka
Summary: It only happened twice before, so it was not widely known.


**Disclaimer: **You know what I don't own.

**Warning: **None. Unless you count bringing back the [spoiler] as one.

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A shinobi with curly brown hair squeezed his eyes as he looked at the mess happening far away. His efforts were to no avail, so he sighed and turned back to his senpai.

"Do you know what's happening out there? I can't see a thing. Did we win or no?"

"We're not on the front line, Akira," a woman replied as she rolled her eyes. "Just—focus. We're medic nin, not news reporters. You know your job."

"Loosen up, Eri-senpai. No wonder you don't have a boyfriend," he grinned.

Eri sent him an icy glare, and Akira mumbled something as he backed off slowly. She paused in front of a mutilated corpse, clicking her tongue as she averted her gaze elsewhere. War had always been an ugly thing. "Got any scrolls?"

Akira opened his pouch and threw a black scroll to Eri. He froze.

"Uh, Eri-senpai?"

"What now?" she asked, focusing on the sealing at hand.

"Is this guy... dead?" He pointed at a body laying not far away.

Already, Eri could identify their cause of death: blood loss, or extreme pain. 'No' was on the tip of her tongue, but she paused. Akira wasn't a newbie; he had been in this field for almost six years. So Eri walked closer, and observed the body.

The man—boy, actually—was roughly eighteen, his silky hair tied loosely behind. White shirt stained with blood, yet his face seemed so peaceful no one would've noticed there were two rods sticking out of his chest.

"That's really nasty," Akira commented. "I personally—" Eri raised her arm, hushing her little genius.

She bent down, slowly, and spread a thin layer of chakra out. Significant blood loss, broken ribs, lungs punctured—

"You're crazy, senpai. Are you sure—"

"It's your idea," she snapped. "Be quiet."

Stomach filled with blood, kidney already failed, his pulse too weak—Eri widened her eyes.

His heart was still beating.

"Emergency med squad, now!" she shouted. Akira disappeared.

Medical instincts kicked in, and Eri thickened her chakra layer. With one hand pressed on the wound, she branched her chakra out to move along the blood vessels and reached his heart. She gave it a small shock before four more strands of chakra flowed upward to the brain and sent out false signals to the body, ordering the cells not to shut down.

After that, Eri focused solely on expelling the blood in his lungs and patch up the rip. Muscle cells knitted together, one by one, and it was an exhausting but effective method. She would deplete her chakra quickly and she knew it, but Eri couldn't stop herself.

_Every life is worth saving_. It was part of her oath when she began as a medic. Even though later on, she learned more about efficiency and ways to save greatest number of people, she was compelled to save hopeless cases. Especially if the patient didn't want to die, because that was the only explanation as to why this boy had not given up.

He hadn't.

"Damn in," she cursed, the first time in years. "You _will not _die on my watch."

_Once, the Hyuuga produced a genius._

_Once, they condemned him as a Branch member._

Tetsuo Hyuuga laid on his bed, blanket drawn up to his chin. Every breath was painful. He could feel the poison slowly spread out in his body, as if ants crawled under his skin, as if spider nested in his blood.

It was a scheme planned for years by the Elders, and Tetsuo knew fully about it. Yet, he did nothing to stop them. It was his time to go, even if his great-great grandchildren would be crying afterward. The Elders had deemed him too dangerous; they thought he was the leader of a rebellion.

Kyuubi-no-Kitsune escaped yesterday, killing the Yondaime, weakening Tetsuo's health. And he felt Hotaru's approach before she spoke.

"Tetsuo-dono."

"Please rise, Hotaru-san. You have a question, don't you?"

She nodded, and he invited her in. A young woman, barely in her twenties, stepped in and knelt down.

"You survive Kyuubi's rage," Tetsuo continued, "but you were sure your heart had stopped."

The woman stayed silent, her head bowed.

"It is a rare occasion. Extremely rare, I might add." He paused to take in a deep breath. "I think you knew very well that after they put this seal on me, I have used all my resources to remove it. And I find the solution, even though it was nothing like my expectations."

Hotaru looked up, curiosity burning in her eyes.

"And you are a Branch member, child. Maybe it was time I share the secret behind the Branch seal."

They won the war. It was over. The pain. Deaths.

The Fourth Shinobi War had concluded yesterday when five Kage simultaneously emerged in front of the Shinobi Alliance and declared so. But it was not without a price.

In order to survive, she had pushed her emotions aside—kicked them down, lock them in a room, put some rocks on it—and focused solely on fighting. But when she didn't have to worry about shuriken flying from behind, when Lee walked out from the camp with a smile, and when the Rookie 9 came together again, Tenten's feelings burst from her chest.

_Neji_.

Everyone lose a part of themselves in the war, physically or psychologically. Ino had pulled her team into a bear hug for five minutes now, and Temari seemed amused at Shikamaru's expression. Sasuke and Sakura sat back-to-back, neither spoke a word to each other. Hinata cried, Kiba slept, and Naruto—

He knelt in front of Hiashi, begging for punishment. His crimes, as he said. Letting a friend died, he said.

And a part of Tenten wanted to blame him. Blame Hinata for loving Naruto. Blame Kami up there for taking away someone who had only begun to love his life.

But she couldn't, because Neji wouldn't like that.

Lee was hugging her, she realized, and so was Gai-sensei. Tears silently rolled on her cheeks. But this time, no one was there to shed them away.

_Tetsuo Hyuuga knew too much. He must be destroyed._

"The Hyuuga had survived for as long as the Senju or Uchiha had. We are ancient. The Branch Seal is ancient. No one knew its origin or creator. It feeds on chakra of the host, bit by bit, until the storage is full.

"The Main Branch had the ability to open its 'gate', and through the seal it turns the host's chakra into electricity and poison, feeding back into their system. Immeasurable pain, as you knew.

"Kyuubi is an ancient force of chakra, capable of destroying villages in one sweep. And our Branch Seal is vulnerable to it. That was part of the reason we joined Konohagakure in the first place, child, because it was better to ally with Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki then be its enemy.

"Kyuubi's chakra is capable of destroying the Seal's gate, effectively releasing the stored chakra inside without changing its properties. Hotaru-san, you were on the front line that night, weren't you?"

The woman mumbled yes.

"Then that small amount of chakra had save you in the nick of time."

Her eyes widened as the pieces clicked. She looked up at the dying man.

"For once," she said in disbelief, "My Branch Seal saved me."

Apparently, the underworld had ceilings.

But then, Neji blinked. Once. Twice. He wasn't dead. As in yes, there was a beeping sound next to him and yes, every breath was painful.

It wasn't possible. There had been two rods flying _through _his body, and he swore they stabbed his heart. His Branch Seal had disappeared. He remembered talking to his father, something about life and cats, and then there was a blur.

He was in a hospital, and the silent humming of his Seal had ceased.

"You," a voice spoke from his left, and Neji willed himself not to flinch, "are the pain the ass."

He cocked an eyebrow.

Another man opened the door, and his eyes shone when Neji looked into them.

"It worked! You did it, Eri-senpai! Oh boy, you are one lucky shinobi, found by _Eri-sama _of all people—"

"—I think, Akira, that you should stick with one suffix. Anyway, Mizushima Eri is my name—"

"—Head of Kirigakure Central Hospital! And I'm Akira, her appren—"

"—In my entire career, the number of people that dies on my watch is less than thirty, and I intend to keep it that way—"

"—Twenty five years! Can you believe—"

Akira didn't see the punch coming, and Neji winced for the man. He was no medic, but Akira's nose was definitely broken. Though, Neji admitted, a twenty-five years medical career with only thirty casualties was quite an accomplishment. What was Tsunade-sama number again? He thought it was twenty, but that was only because she had left in the midst of the previous war.

"As I was saying," Eri still glared at the sitting man, then turned to him, "It was a miracle that your heart was still beating when we arrived. Things were...ugly, but after three days and two chakra pills, you're finally back."

"How may I repay you?" he asked.

"Hah," she huffed. "You _are _a Hyuuga after all. Kid, I'm a medic nin. Seeing you talking is good enough. Though, I might ask for the right to brag." The corners of her lips curled up into a smile, and Neji nodded. Akira burst out laughing for some reason.

"I suppose you want to see your friends again?" He murmured a 'yes', and Eri continued. "We've won the war, if you're wondering. The Allied Shinobi Force isn't disbanded yet, since we're trying to relocate all the patients and corpses to their own villages. Messy stuffs. You are currently in camp number..." She flipped over a piece of paper. "Forty-three. Konoha's patients are in camp forty-one, but I have a feeling your friends are waiting for you in number ten, which is for identifying corpses."

Neji sat up, still listening, and with Eri's agreement he took off the IVs and tubes that connected to the machines next to him. He hissed when his chest ached, and Neji almost fell when he stood up. Akira, with his still bloody nose, helped him.

"No straining activities for at least three weeks, but I don't think I have to worry, since your Hokage is Tsunade-sama of all people," Eri said. "Even though I _really _want you to rest, I suppose you're good enough to tag along a shunshin." She looked to Akira. The man nodded.

His head spun when they finally stopped, and Neji had to forced down his nauseous feeling. Akira offered to walk him to the place, but he politely refused. He didn't want an outsider to see him behaving with such clumsiness.

His friends, if he could dare call them so, were all present, and a small part of him felt relieved. The entire Rookie 9 sat in front of the camp, Gai-sensei were further away with Hatake-san, and his uncle stood next to Hinata.

They all gaped when he came into vision. He sighed. If only he could have a camera right then.

Tenten was the first to move, her gaze gluing on him as she slowly moved forward. She pinched him. He scowled.

"Personally, I don't expect a pinch when I come back from the dead," he spoke. That only cause everyone to be even more bewildered, and Uchiha—wait, why was Uchiha there?—even spared him a curious glance.

Maybe Naruto's mother had rubbed on him too much.

"Neji?!" It seemed that Naruto's shout was as deafening as he remembered. "Bu—How? I swear I saw you die! Even the green thingy—"

"—the Branch Seal—" he added.

"—disappeared! Like, isn't that supposed to—and the blood! You were like, on my shoulders, and, and Hinata was crying, and—" Naruto continued to ramble as Neji tuned him out. The boy will come back when he wants to.

"Neji-niisama," Hinata greeted, looking into his eyes. She then buried her face in her palms. "I'm so glad, I'm so glad..." she said between sobs.

"My eternal rival, is this really—"

"My youthful student! I know for sure—"

"Oh my god—"

"Neji!—"

And then, Neji found himself surrounded by all of them, hugged, patted, pinched, punched—okay _nobody _should ever touched his hair. He glared at Kiba, but stopped when Akamaru came forward to lick his leg. Neji would let that slide for now. _Only _because his father loved dogs. Neji hated them.

When all was done—_no Ino I did not blush because Tenten gave me a peck in the cheek, Lee and Gai were doing it too—_Neji walked to his uncle.

"Hiashi-sama," he bowed lightly.

"Neji," the man replied, his voice softened.

"My Seal is gone," he said.

"And I intend to keep it that way."

Neji and Hinata snapped their heads up at the same time, and a few more widened their eyes when they realized what Hiashi's words meant.

"I beg your pardon?"

There was content on Hiashi's countenance, and Neji felt even more confused than before.

"I will tell you once we are back in Konoha, Neji. You may have read about Tetsuo Hyuuga in your free time, but I doubt you knew of the bet he made to our Elders." Hiashi looked away into the clearing near them, and horror dawned on Neji's face when he realized that his uncle—head of the Hyuuga clan, the most stoic man he'd ever known—was _smiling_.

Hiashi continued. "It was quite entertaining."

But the story isn't important. The theory isn't important.

The important thing, now, is that he survives the war. Alive, with all of his friends. He has been given another chance.

He is alive...

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_The end._

**A/N: **If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, please tell me! I'm young, and inexperienced (not to mention English isn't my first language); I have lots of room to improve, so please don't think that 'oh it's such a simple mistake. I'm sure she'll see it in the future' (*whisper* tell me instead).

**A/N**_ edited:_ What's up, my readers! If you're new, welcome! If you already read this, then yep, I rewrote the whole thing. A little less info dump and unnecessary information, and a little more light-hearted moments. Also, it _can _be NejiTen if you want it to (*wink).

Reviews are awesome and I love them!


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